Hereinafter, and unless expressly distinguished where used, any reference to a conversation or an interaction of one user with one or more other users (a conversation partner, partner) refers to a communication occurring between the user and one or more partner, where the user and a partner are human individuals having a person-to-person (in-person) conversation without using any electronic medium for accomplishing the communication.
People find themselves speaking to other people on a one-on-one basis, in a one-to-many situation, or as a group. In many cases, the other person or people (partner/partners) in such a conversation are acquaintances of a person (user).
Individuals have preferences about the topics they would like to discuss with acquaintances and topics that they would not. Such preferences can be general and rarely changing on some topics, dynamic and frequently changing for some other topics based on a variety of factors, and can have other degrees of variations for other topics as well. Some factors affecting a person's desire to discuss a topic with an acquaintance can include, for example, experiences related to the topic in the recent past or distant past, sensitivity or suitability of the topic itself in view of current activities, general interest or disinterest, opinion of others relative to the topic, familiarity or the nature of a relationship with a person or group with whom the topic is to be discussed, and many others.
In a conversation with a partner, it is generally desirable to discuss a topic that the partner would like to discuss. Stated another way, it is desirable for a user to include in a conversation with a partner only those topics for which the partner would not have a preference to avoid or dislike at the time of the conversation.